Majerczak couldn't pass up a football field

Tuesday

Last fall, some members of the Wooster High Class of 1961 took a trip south to visit with retired teacher and coach Roman Majerczak.

It turned out to be their final visit. Majerczak, whose many roles at Wooster High included an eight-year run as head football coach (1958-65), died last Tuesday at the age of 83.

Majerczak spent his entire 35-year career in Wooster and coached football for 54 years, the last in his retirement in West Virginia. He was Wooster's athletic director for 21 years and also a wrestling and assistant football coach for the Generals.

The former Marine, who earned both the Purple Heart and Silver Cross from his service in both World War II and Korea, had a gruff, no-nonsense exterior.

"But he never said anything bad about anyone," said former WHS football coach Bob McFarland, who was hired at Wooster by then-A.D. Majerczak. Majerczak then served as an assistant on McFarland's first staff.

"Roman was a great man," McFarland said. "People don't realize how many kids he helped. He had a great feel for down-and-out kids who needed help, kids nobody knows about."

Andy "Butch" Kobilarcsik was the star senior running back on Majerczak's best team, the 10-0 Generals of 1960.

Kobilarcsik, who also won the state 165-pound wrestling title that year, was part of the group that last fall visited the nursing home in Mount Vernon where Majerczak and his wife, Rosella lived.

"He was the one who motivated me to become a good wrestler, he was my first coach," Kobilarcsik said. "If he hadn't, I don't think I would have continued."

The 1960 Generals defeated Orrville 18-12 in a battle of unbeatens to become Wooster's only 10-0 team.

"He worked us, but we all liked him. We all liked football and we all liked to hit people, so he liked us," Kobilarcsik said. "And if he said to go out and run 20 laps, we went out and ran 20 laps."

It's appropriate that the practice field outside of the Dean Davis Building, where the football team operates, is named after Majerczak. "His wife told us that even long after he retired, he couldn't pass a football field without stopping and giving his advice," Kobilarcsik said.

"I always had a lot of admiration for him -- he was always great to me, and a hard-nosed coach, too."

Majerczak, survived by his wife and children Bill and Doris Majerczak, also left two grandchildren, a brother and a sister. Memorial services will be held Saturday, May 2 at 11 a.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in Wooster. A luncheon at the church will follow the memorial service. Burial with full military honors will be held in Sherwood Memorial Gardens, Wooster.

Mike Plant can be reached at 330-287-1649 or mplant@the-daily-record.com

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